The Palestinian Islamists will tomorrow reap the rewards of nationalist failure, Sharon's policies, discipline and integrity Hussein Agha and Robert Malley
Tuesday January 24, 2006There is more uncertainty than clarity surrounding tomorrow's Palestinian elections, though this much is plain: Hamas, the Islamist movement designated a terrorist organisation by the US and Europe and considered a mortal enemy by Israel, will be joining the legislature. Riding an unprecedented wave of popularity and having exceeded expectations in recent municipal elections, it is on course to capture a sizable portion of votes and, who knows, a seat at the cabinet table.
Hamas's decision to enter the political realm was long in coming but hardly a surprise. Like Fatah, the dominant secular nationalist organisation, Hamas is an offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood. Unlike Fatah, its agenda was not national liberation through armed struggle and diplomacy alone. Its first priority was the Palestinians' social and religious transformation. Violence was not its only tool, any more than independence was its sole objective. Of the two, paradoxically, it is Fatah that has the more militaristic pedigree. And, in the absence of armed struggle, it is Hamas that has a political agenda to fall back on.
True, violence came to Hamas, and brutally. Its first targets were soldiers and settlers. Later, it extended operations to suicide attacks against civilians, justifying them as retaliation for the killing of Palestinian civilians. On various occasions Hamas offered - in proposals Israel dismissed as disingenuous - to stop the killing of civilians if Israel did the same. Resort to violence itself also displayed political intuition, as attacks were carefully calibrated to the public mood.
The Palestinian Authority was failing miserably to protect its people. Unable to provide security, Hamas aimed for second best. It provided revenge. Even at the armed confrontation's height, Hamas kept one eye focused on the religious, social and cultural, rallying the faithful in mosques, tending to their needs through charitable institutions. Its leaders trusted in the ultimate payoff. Discipline and ideological coherence, coupled with inevitable public disenchantment over Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, would yield dividends. Payback time, by all accounts, is now.
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Furthermore, Hamas may be growing, but there's a limit.
A minority of Palestinians back its hardcore Islamist positions and most oppose its outlook. Impressive as they are, its recent gains reflect disaffection with the authority rather than support for its political programme, and its electoral size inflates its actual one - so long as Hamas is not in charge, Palestinians will be grateful for every service it provides; once in power, Palestinians will blame it for every service they lack.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1693354,00.htmlNote: I bolded a bit that needs to be taken notice of by folk who'd try to portray Palestinians as raving religious fanatics, because those people who claim that are very wrong...